Wednesday Werk: Nerglid

S. P. at How to Succeed at RPGs or Die Trying has done a write-up of the Nerglid and their fungal riding beasts the Pseudoblepas.

Here are a few more notes on these creatures...

Not Like Chicken

The Pseudoblepas are fairly docile and have to be 'trained' to be of any use in combat, a process that can take a lot of work. The creatures can be eaten safely, if steamed or poached. The meat resembles crab after a fashion and is slightly salty. The Nerglids are very unlikely to sell one of their mounts, but then if the fortunes of war shift against them and they are in dire need of cash...it could happen. Especially in Winter.

Ooh Shiny

Never hire Nerglid mercenaries. It's a bad, bad idea. They make reasonable cavalry units, but are terrible when it comes to following orders. They will break off from an engagement to indulge in looting and wanton mayhem at the first good opportunity. And they consider nearly anything to be a good opportunity; they have extremely poor impulse control.

Suckitudinous
Some Nerglid have learned how to drain fluids from mammalian victims and use this to restore their hit points in a semi-vampiric form of regeneration. So far this is a rare talent, and those who've picked-up the ability are not in a hurry to teach anyone else. At least not until things start to go against the Nerglid, such as in the aftermath of a vicious loss on the battlefield, or after a hard day getting driven out of what should have been a fairly easy and eminently lootable farm enclave, but wasn't. In desperation, those Nerglid who've acquired this skill will try to teach it to those who'll meet their price, and as their situation worsens, a lot of the others will cough-up what loot they are carrying in the hopes of living long enough to ride along on another raid.

A Rare Opportunity

A few entrepreneurial-minded Nerglid have set themselves up as quack healers who do the whole bleeding thing like the barbers, only the Nerglid claim better rates of success. The weird thing is, some of them do get rather startling results, but it's more the result of cross-contamination and the slightly rejuvenative properties of the Nerglid's bodily fluids passing across into their victims.

If someone, say a PC working for the barbers, were to figure this out, it could get difficult for the Nerglid to remain at large, as the barbers will surely seek to round them up as fast as they can in order to corner the new market on Nerglid-derived tonics...

Wednesday Werk: Molg

This week S. P. over at How to Succeed in RPGs or Die Trying has taken on the Molg. Yes. The lowly Molg, that slug-like ectoplasm-devouring scavenger that Fantomists (and others) raise as a sort of protection or defense against the depredations of Ordrang. The enmity and antagonism that exists between these two fellow scavengers often obscures the little known fact that they are both related. You see, after extensive research and the loss of over a dozen apprentice-candidates, it has been conclusively proven that the Ordrang are in fact the females of the species. Molg are the males. No is one quite sure when or how they mate just yet, mostly because no one has funded that particular research at this time.

There are also disturbing rumors concerning illicit and ill-advised graftings being performed in the Arenas by unscrupulous quacks who have learned how to semi-successfully merge Molg tissues with human or abhuman flesh, in one scandalous example much talked about within the yellow press being a warrior whose entire head was replaced with a Molg. The pit-fighter has since gone on to win nearly every fight he's be in, making his handler quite rich in a very short time and sparking a sudden and sickening rash of imitators...

Wednesday Werk: Ordrang

Wednesday Werk: Ordrang
S.P. over at How To Succeed in RPGs or Die Trying has converted the Ordrang over to 4th Edition.
You can find the original post detailing these weird spherical beasties who dine on ectoplasm here at Hereticwerks.

Du Campion of Wermspittle has never fully explained how a creature he categorizes as mindless can cast several different spells. His classic treatise Morbid Thoughts From the Moonlit Moors, is one of the only substantive texts available on the subject of Ordrang, being derived from actual encounters with these creatures and collected over the course of more than thirty years. It is from critical appraisal of Du Campion's recently discovered pre-publication manuscripts that certain discrepancies have been noted. Several records regarding suspected Ordrang-Hasnamuss interactions were completely excised by editorial edict and an entire appendix  detailing no fewer than six different spells derived from or inspired by the Ordrang, including a means for directing an Ordrang to feed upon Projections, Predatory or otherwise.


It is precisely because of such spells as noted above, and the simple existence of these very creatures, that those who intend to indulge in astral projection experiments need to do so in secured spaces, and to take measures to protect themselves from Ordrang incursions.


So far no one has successfully located the notorious so-called 'silver collars' supposedly used by Silas Gromff's deputized auxiliaries to control and use Ordrang as anti-mediumist weapons during the Midwive's Rebellion.


Fantomists are known to offer bounties on Ordrang. Substantial rewards and inducements are often mentioned, but few ever collect.


There are a few Mediums among the Refugees out in the shanty-camps who have somehow captured very immature (1 or 2 HD specimens) Ordrang that they are attempting to train to help them find and remove Fantodics and other such pests and nuisances.

Wednesday Werk: Phorain

Last Week S. P. over at the How to Succeed in RPGs or Die Trying blog took a shot at converting the Phorain over to the Fourth Edition of the Classic Fantasy RPG whose acronym starts with 'D.'

• The Original version of the Phorain (using Labyrinth Lord stats).
• Optional rules for playing a Phorain.
• The Phorain Revisited (Coming Soon)

The current play-test group delving into the sequel to Zilgor's Repose includes a Phorain and they are a major species encountered within the Wandering Cities of the Kalaramar Drifts.

Wednesday Werks: Quindra & Hallimox

S. P. over at How To Succeed at RPGs or Die Trying has done an excellent job of converting the Quindra and Hallimox over to 4th Edition D&D.

The original Quindra & Hallimox were statted-up for Labyrinth Lord and both are very important species within the Kalaramar Drifts setting.

We'll be revealing a few more details about both these creatures as there is a Hallimox Mummy-Thief in Part Two of Zilgor's Repose, and a Quindra is said to be lurking around the ruins of a certain fortified oasis...

Wednesday Werk: Gronks, Octs & Synchronocitors

S.P. over at How To Succeed in RPGs or Die Trying has launched a new series, Wednesday Werk, where he is converting some of our monsters over to the Fourth Edition of the World's Most Popular Fantasy RPG. He's a brave soul and we wish him luck. The first installment tackles Gronk Swords, Octoscholars and those strange plane-shifting mechanisms known as Synchronocitors.

Wednesday Werk has inspired us to re-visit the Octopoidal Degenerates that are a major force within The Cliff-Tomb of Vhonj that we submitted to Blair's The Jewel Throne. We'll post a few of those critters -- and a few New Rituals that the Octoscholars can perform for your characters...at a price. Then there's the matter of that Gronk Navy Wading Infantry floating around out there...

Wednesday Werks: Gore-Worms Converted to 4th Edition

Totally out of the blue we just discovered that the Gore-Worms have spread over to the How to Succeed in RPGs or Die Trying blog, where the author S.P. has converted the Gore-Worms over to a spiffy-looking Fourth Edition stat block. S.P. does a really nice job of converting the wriggling little monsters over to the new-fangled version of the Classic Fantasy RPG.

Gore-Worms for Labyrinth Lord
Gore-Worms for 4th Edition

We're currently completing work on a few more Scenario Seeds involving Gore-Worms in Wermspittle along the lines of Dubious Medical Applications and Disruptive Gastonomy.

All this business about worms kinda makes you squirm a bit, doesn't it?